Playmate and Glamour Model Kody Cooper talks about Buckethead

How or when did you first hear of Buckethead?

I was 10 years old. My brother had shown me Buckethead. That was when he was in Guns N Roses. Then before all this lock-down happened last year I was so bored (because I only listen to music I don't really watch TV) and I went on Spotify and was looking through and found Buckethead and went “Yes! Yes!”. And the song was 'The Redeem Team'. That was the song that got me!

Such a good song!

It's amazing. It's a good one to start with that I think everyone will be able to know why they like it without understanding the beauty of Buckethead.

Yeah, easily accessible.

 

Yeah! I don't think anyone could hate that.

What are some of your favourite songs/albums by him?

'Light in the Fog' definitely. That was on 'Polar Trench' album. That was a good album, Pike 99. The Redeem Team definitely. 'Melting Man Part 2'. The Silent Picture Book is a great album.

Great album. One of the best Pikes by far.

Right? I love it! There's another one I found called 'The Other Side of the Dark'. If anyone's wanting to check out by what I mean by you can feel his presence in his work. That album! That song! That's probably the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

What about a song to dance to? I assume you like to dance?

Oh yeah! Malbert's Strut!

Good song! Funky! What about 'Jump Man'?

Oh Jump Man! I love it. That's on 'Monsters & Robots'!

That's it yeah, that would be a good song to dance to I think.

So many. 'Ropelight' too. I love that. 'Eerie Canal' you can so dance to. Oh 'Three Wheeler'! It's very funky but it's also in some ways it's very sassy. That's incredible. And then 'Electric Tears, Padmasana'.

Oh I love that album. Thats my favorite Buckethead album by a mile!

One thing I love too is 'Healing Inside Outside Every Side'. Thats incredible too. Gosh, so many good ones.

You have a Buckethead, how long did that take?

More than 5 hours!

Whats it like being outside the norm of a Buckethead fan?

I think people need to have a broader open mind I think. As things appear in the world is not always as they seem to be. I think you should always dig deeper. I think one thing thats beautiful in the world is mystery and the curiosity for it. You never know what you'll discover. Not everything is the same. You can't have one group of people there and one here and say 'they fit there. And they fit there'. They have similarities but they're all unique and different. Not one person is gonna match the other.

So how did the photo-shoot come about?

It's what inspires me I guess like horror movies inspires Buckethead to just overcome that fear of self doubt and do what you wanna do. But when it's your inspiration and you have emotion involved in it, thats where true creativity and art comes from. I don't know everyone else is gonna perceive it but Im basically stripping away everything that doesn't work and feeling present in that moment again. There's symbols of Buckethead because that's literally the moment I had this vision of what I was feeling. In some ways, metaphorically, my own individuality and creativity was hidden under a fog of society of how things should be done. And what is considered beautiful. And ya know like 'oh you can't do that. You can use a piece of your personality in this photo but a magazine won't want that'. I want to get more of me as a person in my work, like what I would wear, my visions, my music etc. Instead of having is separate. I wanna incorporate it all and that's what Buckethead has done. He's incredible.

How has Buckethead's music given you focus?

I get that hyper focus right? And I remember listening to an interview where he said he admired that hyper-focus of Paul Gilbert. And when he was talking about it made me feel like, I should use this to my advantage. I dunno what it is, my brain analyses his music differently or something. It just spiraled off this inspiration and passion again that I think I was missing. Thinking I had to something the usual way and then work on something in the background. Once I've done one thing I wanna do the next. Which again is why I love his music because there's so much of it.

So much of it yeah! So if Buckethead does happen to be watching what would you say to him?

Honestly, thank you! I thought I knew who my role models were, and in some ways they still are but I never really experienced someone who could effect my in such a positive way like Buckethead has. He gave me such a confidence to go and do my own thing. I honestly think he's the most beautiful person in the world in every way. Just to see how he overcomes things and being able to relate to that.

Any final thoughts?

Thank you so much! Thank you for having me on. And thank you for letting me do this. I couldn't think of a better place for the photo-shoot to end up. I think the fact this is a Buckethead fanbase and forum that is something that's made me feel like it's in the right place.

Well, thank you. And keep on rocking Buckethead!

Thank you, wait, let me do it. Woo!!

Woo!!